Press Releases

Schiff Statement on Release of Erik Prince Testimony

Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:

“In testimony before our committee, Erik Prince acknowledged that he learned from campaign chief executive and transition chief strategist Steve Bannon about a secret December 2016 meeting in New York City between Trump transition and UAE officials, though he declined to provide the committee with many specifics of his discussion with Bannon. The December meeting shortly preceded Prince’s January 11, 2017 meeting in the Seychelle’s brokered by the UAE.

“About the Seychelles trip, Prince admitted to meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund—a sovereign wealth fund under U.S. sanctions since 2015 for actions related to the annexation of Crimea—and testified that Dmitriev noted that he wished for trade between the United States and Russia to resume in a “normal way.” On the details of this meeting, Prince was again less than forthcoming and sought to represent that his discussion with Dmitriev, which comprised a third of the time he was conducting meetings in the Seychelles, was merely coincidental. Prince also could not adequately explain why he traveled halfway around the world to meet with UAE officials and, ultimately, the head of the Russian fund.

“Finally, Prince claimed to have received a leak of classified information from former Intelligence Community employees regarding his trip to the Seychelles but refused to disclose who provided him the information. Similarly, he claimed to have received confidential information about the Anthony Weiner investigation from NYPD sources, but refused to say what or from whom. The Committee must compel Prince to testify on these matters, and we would hope that the Majority will also want this information given their determined focus on leaks of confidential and classified information.”